Jill Dando's former fiance to be Queen's new doctor

Seven months after Jill Dando's former fiance Alan Farthing married the hospital doctor who consoled him in the aftermath of the television presenter's murder, another new chapter has opened in his life.

Moving on: Alan Farthing married his wife Janet in March

I can reveal he is to become the new gynaecologist to the Queen. The highly prestigious post means he will almost certainly preside over the birth of the next generation of royal babies.

He will become one of the key members of the medical household, joining a group of physicians at the very top of their careers. He will also be one of the youngest.

Farthing, 45, has a private Harley Street practice and also works at two London teaching hospitals, Queen Charlotte's in Shepherd's Bush and St Mary's in Paddington.

The appointment is due to be officially announced next week when Farthing will join the present surgeon-gynaecologist - as the post is styled - Marcus Setchell.

Father-of-four Setchell, who is 65 next month, has held the job for 18 years having taken over from the formidable Sir George Pinker, who delivered nine royal babies including Princes William and Harry.

Setchell himself delivered the Countess of Wessex's two babies and cared for her after her ectopic pregnancy in 2001. He is also reported to have delivered at least one of Cherie Blair's children and performed the Duchess of Cornwall's hysterectomy.

Although Setchell is due to retire from the NHS, he will stay on in private practice and continue to work for the Queen. Farthing will work with him and get to know his new royal "clients", before taking over full-time.

In March, almost nine years after Miss Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of her Fulham home, he married 30-year-old Dr Janet Stowell in a civil ceremony at The Hempel Hotel in Bayswater. They met at St Mary's Hospital, where he was a consultant and she a trainee junior doctor.

The royal appointment comes weeks after loner Barry George was cleared at a retrial of murdering Miss Dando. Farthing has never spoken about his thoughts on the eight-week court case and has told friends he wants to put it behind him.

Says a friend: 'It couldn't happen to a nicer man. His life has obviously moved on since the tragedy with Jill. He is married now and it is ten years next April since Jill died and ten years is a long time.'

A Palace aide tells me: 'Obviously it takes time to become familiar with the full remit of the job and he will work alongside Mr Setchell before eventually replacing him.'

The floor at the Reform Club in Pall Mall was too crowded for John Sergeant to demonstrate his new skills as a ballroom dancer when he joined guests helping the Daily Mail's veteran foreign correspondent Dame Ann Leslie launch her memoir, Killing My Own Snakes.

Sipping champagne, Sergeant told me he is 'especially excited' with the way the tango (yet to be broadcast) had gone. But is he stressed by the dancing challenge?

'When you've spent 20 years standing in front of Downing Street with a voice in your ear counting down the seconds for you to go live on the latest national crisis - that's stress,' says 64-year-old Sergeant. 'Dancing to entertain the public is pure relaxation.'

There's relief behind the smiles for Lisa

Hospital dash: Model Lisa B flew to Florida after her mother was diagnosed with cancer

The smiles that wreathed glamorous Lisa B as she hosted an art auction for cancer charity Macmillan masked a poignant heartache.

For I learn that only days earlier Lisa, the model wife of property tycoon Anton Bilton, had flown back from the hospital bedside in Florida of her Puerto Rican-born mother, who is being treated for cervical cancer.

'I only just got back in time for the event after my mother was given the all-clear,' 37-year-old Lisa tells me. 'I'm so relieved the cancer was caught early, because they've been able to treat her and she didn't have to go through chemotherapy.

'The doctors acted very quickly, but I'm still in shock.'

Mother-of-two Lisa also added her sympathy for 27-year-old Jade Goody, the reality television star recently diagnosed with the same illness.

'It's one thing for a woman of 60 to have to go through, but it's terrible that it should happen to such a young woman.'

Novelli's garden recipe turns sour

While his Gallic charm has caused many a female fan to swoon, celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli's magnetism has worn thin with landscape gardener Trevor Bailey.

The businessman says he is £77,000 out of pocket after he went to work at Novelli's 14th-century farmhouse near Luton, where he runs his cooking school.

Bailey and his partner, Geoffrey Evans, claim they were almost put out of business because Novelli failed to pay them, despite being sent eight invoices.

Now they have issued a High Court writ and Bailey tells me: 'It is a lot of money and has caused us a huge black hole in our finances. We almost went under, but we have built up the business again and we have got enough money to sue him.'

Bailey says in 2005 he put in the base for a swimming pool, built a terrace and laid 440 sq metres of paving at Novelli's house.

'To begin with, he said that if we did the work without payment he would recommend us to all his celebrity friends,' says Bailey. 'But we didn't get any jobs through him. In the end, we had to ask him to pay for the work we had done.'

Novelli tells me: 'It is a spurious claim and I shall be instructing my solicitors to vigorously defend it.'

Kathy is laying down the law...

Mother's rule: Kathy Lette with her daughter Georgie

She is one of novelist Kathy Lette's most ardent admirers, but Georgie Robertson hasn't even read one of the writer's raunchy tomes.

For Georgie is Kathy's daughter by her husband, human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, and has been banned from the books - titles include Dead Sexy and Foetal Attraction - because she is only 15.

"I'm a bit too young at the moment," Georgie tells me at the launch of her mother's novel To Love, Honour And Betray (Till Divorce Us Do Part) at the Haymarket Hotel, where guests included Sir John Mortimer, Ian McEwan and Ruby Wax.

Adds Sydney-born Kathy - who chose an Australian pool theme complete with bronzed lifeguards for her party: 'Of course, she's not allowed to read my books.

'I would be in deep parental doo-doo if I let her. Can you imagine her asking: "Mum what does this mean - line four, page six?"

'With me as a mother, it's like living with the Taliban.'

It took broadcaster and writer Rod Liddle 11 years to marry the mother of his two sons, Rachel Royce, only to abandon his honeymoon and bolt into the arms of his girlfriend Alicia Munckton. Now the two have secretly married.

Today host John Humphrys was among those who attended the private ceremony. Liddle, 47, confirmed last night that he and Alicia, 26, a former secretary at the Spectator magazine and mother of his three-year-old daughter Emmeline, were man and wife.

He tells me: 'It is true we have married. We have been together for five years. Who said it wouldn't last?'

PS

With belts being tightened and staff being laid off everywhere, it seems an unfortunate time for the Queen to be advertising for butlers.

But for the eighth time in two years, Buckingham Palace is seeking these essential domestic staff to bring some fresh blood to the Royal Household.

Inviting applications from EU nationals indicates that HM may have to turn to Eastern Europe to help relieve the servant shortage.

Although pay is only around £20,000 a year, with the right pedigree royal butlers can command up to £100,000 in the private sector.

'It takes three years of on-the-job training to turn out a butler,' says a Palace source. 'Paul Burrell need not apply.'